Dalton's lips thinned as he glanced around. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?"
I nodded before reaching down to take his hand. "Dalton and I need to talk. Can we have a few minutes?"
"Of course," Knox replied. "I'll make those phone calls and then we'll head on in to breakfast."
"I'm going to take Dalton down to my apartment so I can change, and then we'll be back up after we've talked. Say, thirty minutes?"
Knox nodded. "We'll see you in thirty."
"Come on, we can have some privacy at my place."
I kept a tight hold of Dalton's hand as I led him out of the penthouse to the elevator and then down two floors to my apartment. "It's not as big as the penthouse, but it's mine." I shot Dalton a quick smile. "And maybe yours for a little while."
Dalton smiled as he glanced around my apartment. "It's nice."
"I need to go change. You can wait out here or..."
Dalton followed me as I walked down the hallway to my bedroom. He perched himself on the end of my bed as I started pulling clothes out of my closet. I grabbed a clean dark blue suit jacket and slacks, pristine white shirt, tie, and a clean pair of underwear and laid them over the chair next to the bathroom door.
I would have liked time to shower, but there just wasn't any.
"Do you really think this is a good idea, Andrew?"
"I didn't when Knox first said something. I thought he was crazy, but then I realized he was right. This is the best way for me to protect you. We're not just dealing with Brasov. We still have the Stantons, and I'm not about to let Sabrina Stanton get her hands on you. I doubt she wants pole dancing lessons."
Dalton shuddered. "That's all I have to offer her."
I sat down on the end of the mattress next to Dalton and took his hand between mine. I stared down at it as I rubbed my thumb across the ring gracing his slender finger. "Think of it as a form of legal protection."
"I get the legal protection part, but marriage?"
"Well, it's either that or I adopt you."
Dalton snickered. "That could get complicated fast, and illegal."
I chuckled for a moment before growing serious. "Would being married to me be so bad?"
"No, and that's what scares me." Dalton drew in an unsettled breath. "I think I could grow to like it too much."
"Why would that be a problem?"
"What am I supposed to do when this is all over and you want a divorce?"
"Who says I will?" I asked. "Maybe I'll fall madly in love with you and want to stay married for the rest of my life."
It could happen.
Dalton's lips thinned as he pulled his hand away. "I'm being serious, Andrew."
"So am I," I replied quickly. "I'm already more than interested in you, and I don't know if that's going anywhere or even if it will, but I'd like the chance to see if it does."
"And you think being married will do that?"
"I think being married will give us the time we need to explore this thing between us."
Dalton was quiet for a few minutes. I sat there silently, giving him time to think, if that was indeed what he was doing. I knew there was a lot to think over. I should probably be doing the same thing. Instead, I was jumping in headfirst.
The thing was, I'd seen how things had worked out for Knox, Burke, and Crosby, and I had been jealous of the happiness they'd found. I wasn't positive things would work out for me and Dalton, but if I wasn't willing to take the same leap, I'd always be jealous because I'd never have that for myself.
